Beat train price hikes

Rail fares are on the up again (surprise, surprise!). Higher Rail fares shouldn’t be in force until the very beginning of January 2016, but the Big Train Operators will be ‘quietly’ loading these 2016 fares into their systems from Fri 4 Dec.

So if you have anything planned for early next year (Jan/Feb) - or due for a renew on a season ticket, be smart and book before Fri 4 Dec- and beat this sneaky price hike. Leave it to later and you’ll be forced to shell out more, on what will already be an expensive ticket.

If you miss the December 4th date, you will still be likely to get a cheaper price by getting next year's ticket before Fri 1 Jan. It’s worth doing, as last year season tickets rose by an average of 3.1%.

Other ways to save

Other ways to save on your train tickets include splitting your ticket. The two big players include TrainSplit, where save on average 30% on 60% of journeys (which is more than any other train booking site), and MoneySavingExpert’s Tickety Split tool.

As always, don’t forget to book advance. Ideally you should do it exactly 12 weeks in advance to get the rock bottom prices (at midnight to get the just released tickets), but leave it no later than 24 hours in advance to take advantage of cheaper fares. Some providers will let you get an advance ticket just 15 mins in advance - try to use these trains if you aren’t much of a forward thinker Whatever you do - don’t wait till you get on the train!

And, of course, no student would be complete, without their 16-25 railcard

The Boring Bit

SMS wants to help you live the life you want on the budget you're stuck with but we aren't the Economic Bible, so please don't take our word as gospel as we can't accept any liability if our tips aren't right for you – everyone's different, after all.

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